Alfred J. Behrens, 87

March 02, 2003

Alfred J. Behrens, 87, of Northbrook, a former executive with Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers, died of lung failure Thursday, Feb. 27, in Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview. Mr. Behrens grew up in Des Plaines and attended Maine Township High School. He graduated with an associate's degree from North Park Junior College in Chicago, where he played baseball and basketball, and was later inducted into the North Park College Distinguished Alumni and Viking Club Hall of Fame. At 6-feet-4-inches tall, Mr. Behrens was a star forward on North Park's basketball team, but it was in baseball that he really excelled. "He was a talented first baseman, so good in fact that in the early 1930s he was invited to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals," said his son-in-law, Roy Olson. "He wound up turning them down, because he wasn't interested in a career in sports." Mr. Behrens went on to graduate from Lake Forest College and, soon after, landed his first job as the secretary to the chairman of the board at Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers in Chicago. He rapidly advanced in the finance department and eventually was named executive vice president and director. "He had a natural bent for business and was very good with numbers," said Olson. Mr. Behrens retired in his early 60s, after more than 40 years of service. Later, he volunteered in the accounting department of West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park. "He loved working at the hospital, keeping both his mind and his body active," said his daughter Beth Olson. "It was like a second career for him." A resident of River Forest for many years before moving to Northbrook two years ago, Mr. Behrens was a former member of the Oak Park-River Forest High School Board of Education and a former Sunday school teacher and elder at First Presbyterian Church of River Forest. Other survivors include his wife, Margaret; two sons, A. John Jr. and Stephen; another daughter, Barbara Greenup; and six grandchildren. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in Fellowship Center at Covenant Village, 2625 Techny Rd., Northbrook.